End of Days
by A.Mi.E.'s Sonata
Summary: Hello, Reader, my name is Alfred F. Jones and my brother and I are the only humans left on this god forsaken planet. This is the story of the end of the world, from the day Hell rained down on the earth. no pairings, character death, human names used
1. Prologue

_Prologue_

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Time: Morning

Date: July? 20XX

It had all happened suddenly. I know I sound cliché saying that, but it did. I could say, "In the blink of an eye," or even "in the time it took to breathe"- all those phrases work perfectly well to describe just how fast Life, as I loved it, ended.

I obviously can't tell you what time it is. Or the day of the week. Or the month. In all honesty, I haven't had the slightest clue about any of those things in forever. But whatever day or year it is, it doesn't matter. Time has no relevance anymore. Not since the day the world was thrown in the air, flipped over, tossed into the fire, and then immediately stomped upon.

But enough about that. I'll have more time to tell you about that later. If you are reading this, then I thank every god, every deity, and whatever spiritual beings are out there that **you** are alive. Yes, YOU, because for the longest time, I was convinced that me and my brother were the only ones left.

I guess I should introduce myself. Hello, Reader, my name is Alfred F. Jones, and my brother, Matthew Williams, and I are the only humans left on this god forsaken planet.

I'm not sure how I found this journal. I think I was foraging for food, or something. But whatever. I'm glad I found it. I don't know how I'm gonna recount all this to you. Hell, I'm not even sure what I'm supposed to be writing. All I know is that if I don't write _something_, I might as well throw my sanity away and become like Everyone Else.

So, to make things easier, I'll start from the very beginning, and tell you everything that happened- from my perspective.

This is the story of the end of the world.

It all started when Hell rained down on the earth...

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_End Prologue_

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Gah, i've no idea why i'm writing this. This is based off a nightmare i had. Forreal. At first, i was gonna cram everything into one chapter but it got too long and demanded too much attention that i was like, "wth? just make into a series." So yah. here ya go.

Disclaimer: No, i don't own Hetalia. Or Alfred. Or Matthew. But i wish i did ;D

Thank you for reading and please leave a comment!


	2. Chapter 2

HIYA. Before I start:

1) anything in **{ **brackets **}** are little notes Alfred jotted down while writing (this is a journal)

2) warnings: language, possible OOCness, and a protective older brother ^_^ If you have a problem with language, then please read the clean version on my deviant art (remove the spaces)- http : / chibi dreamer 258 . deviantart . com /

3) Enjoy!

**edit: I changed some minor parts. If you've already read this, you don't have to reread it; I didn't change the plotline or anything. I j****ust added a couple phrases here and there to make the story flow a bit better, nothing major. **

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_**Chapter One: The Earth Trembles at Hell's Arrival**_

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_'Ughhhh. Why does the sun have to be so bright? Just gimme 5 more minutes, PLEASE.'_

I open my eyes groggily only to be instantly blinded by the morning light. _'Damn sun. Why do you have to wake me up early on a __Saturday__? Seriously?'_

After a few moments, I turn away from the window before opening my eyes again. The bald eagle clock on my wall says it's almost 10. _'Great. So much for sleeping in till noon,' _I groan.

I lay in bed for a few more minutes before letting out a sigh. _'Well, it's not like I'm gonna fall asleep again anyway'_, I tell myself as I sit up and rub the sleep out of my eyes. _'__Maybe a shower will wake me up...'_

Three minutes later and hot water is cascading down my body. Sleep still has a few fingers clouding my mind, but I'll let the shower work its magic. '_I'm glad school's ending next week; thank God summer is finally here. Oh! And my birthday is coming up too!_ _Sweet! The fireworks display will be awesome! Mom and Dad will be outta town, though. That sucks... Wait, I can invite Kiku to stay over! He can bring that new game he got from his trip, too! And the pool should be finished by then, so I can invite the guys from school too. Hehe, if we're lucky, we'll even get complaints from the neighbors..._**{ **I'm not sure what else my mind drifted to in the shower, but I remember I was hella excited about it. I kinda wish I could remember... **}***

Now fully awake from my shower, my next order of business was calming down stomach. He tends to get real pissy when I don't feed him.

I could hear voices from the TV as I head to the kitchen. '_Mattie is probably watching cartoons or something…' _Matthew, or Mattie as I call him, is my six year old brother and the shyest little dude EVER. Seriously, he's super quiet and stuff; the total opposite of yours truly. But he's my bro, which automatically makes him awesome. And even though he's just a kid, he can already kick ass in sports, especially in hockey and basketball. Some of the parents at his school are complaining about him or some shite, but screw them. They're just jealous that Mattie has skills and their loser kids don't.

I pour cereal and milk into a bowl then join Mattie in the living room. I was right; he was watching cartoons. He had the TV on Boomerang where Scooby-Doo and the Gang were once again solving another mystery.

"G'morning, " Mattie glances at me before returning his attention to Shaggy and Scooby getting stuck in yet another trap.

"'Morning. What's up?" I ask as I plop myself onto the couch

"Nothin'," he replies, eyes on the TV.

"Hn." I take a bite of cereal. "Where's Mom?"

"She's at the spa with Miss Eliza for 'Girl Time'." He air quotes the last two words.

_'Wait, the spa? …? Oh. Riiiight'_ Ok, backstory: My mom and the Miss Elizaveta Héderváry have been best friends since high school. Lately, Mom's been helping Eliza get over her break-up with that Gilbert dude. Seriously, she keeps jumping back and forth between him and Mr. Edelstein, the music teacher at my school. Dad said that it's been like that since the two of them graduated from college, which was like FOREVER ago. Geez, lady can't make up her mind! She keeps it up, and she'll be eternally single.

Speaking of which, I didn't see Dad yet, either. I didn't need to ask Matt where he was, though. He spends all his Saturdays doing one of the following: 1) Read; usually something Shakespearean or whatever 2) Embroider **{ **Don't even ask… **}** or 3) Grade papers for the European History course he teaches at the college. My Dad is actually a born and raised Brit who moved to the states to chase after my mom*. He's such a closet romantic- but don't tell him that! He'll just deny it until the day hell freezes over.

Matt and I continued to watch in silence, me munching on my cereal and Mattie sitting "criss-cross apple-sauce" style. He got up at one point and said he was gonna get some juice. I wasn't really paying attention; I was watching Shaggy get his humongo sandwich stolen by Scooby. Scooby was licking his ... lips? mouth? ... whatever, and Shaggy was wondering dumbly where his sandwich went. The ghost came up behind them and was about to jump them-

My vision blurred suddenly as the entire world shook violently. _'Aw hell__, an earthquake? FUCK!' _The quake didn't start off gentle and gradually get stronger like other quakes- nope, it just **happened**. One moment gravity was normal, the next I felt like I had been thrown into a drying machine strapped to a roller coaster at Six Flags. The TV and several paintings were thrown from their wall mounts. The couch, the bureau, and everything else, me included, were two feet from its original position. The first tremor had thrown me sideways, my cereal bowl flying in the other direction. I was now sprawled across the floor, covering my neck and trying to get my bearings.

A sharp cry pierced the groaning of the shaking earth. My eyes widen in realization. _'Shit! Mattie's in the kitchen!'_. The crashing of dishes was audible as they fell mercilessly from the cabinets. I sprang into action and fought the earthquake, heading towards the kitchen. My insides were screaming from being shaken every which way while I avoided the haphazard mess now strewn about, but my stomach froze when I reached the entrance. He wasn't in the kitchen. '_Oh God, where is he?' _A sick feeling entered my stomach. I didn't have any more time to think when the house suddenly lurched and threw me against the wall. My glasses were almost knocked off, but I was able to catch them in time. Something warm trickled down my right arm. _'Shit'__. _I looked down and saw a line of red on my right arm. A shard of glass of the same color lay not far.

_'Damn __it, Mattie, you better be ok!'_, I swore as I did my best to crawl/drag myself to the dining room with one arm **{ **which is VERY hard to do during a quake, just so y'know **}**. _'Where the hell are you?'_, I wanted to scream, but couldn't since the shaking made me feel like I was being choked to death. Halfway there, I looked up and noticed Mattie beneath the table already. He was using the technique they taught in school and was on his knees, bent down, clutching the back of his neck. His violet eyes were filled with fear when they met mine. I'm not ashamed to say that I could've cried right there and then. '_Oh God, thank you so, so very much, Mattie's ok. I promise to never complain about school or church ever again, and I'll even give tithes and stop picking on the nerds at school, too.'_, I silently prayed as I scrambled to the table and my brother. I imitated his position but held him in my left arm, using my right to cover my neck. He was trembling like crazy, the poor guy.

"Hey, we're gonna be alright. Don't worry, ok?" I try to encourage him. He was too frightened to reply and leaned into me more.

The quake seemed to have grown stronger. _'Hope Dad's ok. Please let him be ok' _my worry turned to him now that I knew Mattie and I were safe. _'He was in the den right? Maybe, I don't know, I didn't check! Shit, what if something happened to him? Shut up, Dad will be fine. He can take care of himself. Don't panic, it's not heroic of you. Focus on you and Mattie and live through this first.' _My gut tightened a bit and I held Matt closer as the quake continued in full force.

The chandelier above us crashed down onto the table, and shards of glass fell around us from above. Mattie let out a cry and I held him tighter, if that was possible. I removed my hand from my neck to throw away any glass that came close to us.

Not long later, Dad appeared in the hallway, leaning against the wall for support against the quake. I let out a breath of relief. He noticed us under the dining table and struggled his way towards us.

"Are you and Matthew alright?" he asked with his British accent. He made it to the table and copied our positions.

"Yeah, we're cool, considering the circumstance," Flashing him a grin. Dad doesn't need to know that I wondered if all the adrenaline would give me a heart attack. "Where were you?" I ask.

"My study. I was going to remain underneath my desk, but I wanted to check on you both," he replied_._ His eyes narrowed at the trail of blood on my arm. "Are you injured?" he asked, now worried.

'_Oh, yeah, my arm'_ I remembered. "Nah, it's just a small scratch. I'll bandage it later." I took back what I said about the adrenaline. Honestly, I didn't feel any pain at the moment.

He nodded and we waited out the rest of the quake in silence. Dad took the job of throwing away more glass shards. The earthquake continued for another good long minute as strong as it had started before receding into a distant rumble. It didn't die down anymore than that, though, and I could tell Dad was getting impatient. Despite the continued tremor, he didn't want to wait any longer and turned to Mattie.

"Matthew, stay under the table. Your brother and I are going to go outside and try to figure out what the bloody hell is going on and see if anybody needs help." Dad instructed.

Mattie looked up at him with wide eyes and barely choked out a "What?" as Dad fished around in his pocket and handed Mattie his phone.

"You'll be fine as long as you stay here. If anything happens, call Alfred's cell phone, understand?" Mattie swallowed and nodded. Dad smiled, "That's my boy" and ruffled his hair. He hoisted himself up from beneath the table and said, "We'll only be gone a few minutes. I promise. Come on, Alfred."

I rolled my eyes, "'K" and gave Mattie one last squeeze before I followed Dad. The two of us struggled to the front door, losing our balance more than once and having to grab the wall. My still-bleeding arm didn't help. _'Earthquakes are a bitch when they don't scare the hell out of you'_, I grimaced. But before long, we were in front of our house grabbing the fence for support. The first thing I noticed was the neighborhood that stretched out below us.

Our house sits near the top of a hill outside the greater LA area and has one of the best views around. The metropolis extends a good distance away until it meets the ocean, and our neighborhood and the town is nestled comfortably within the hill. I turned my attention to our neighbors, some of them already out and inspecting the damage like me and Dad. I saw most houses were pretty much intact, save for fallen chimneys and other residential extremities. '_Mr. Wang is gonna be so bummed about his backyard'_, I mused as I took in the damage. '_I'm surprised the houses didn't totally collapse, though…'_ **{ **If you'd been there, you'd have been surprised too **}**

The streets, including ours, were completely torn apart, reduced to crumbling, jagged, chunks of asphalt. They kinda looked like messily broken up graham crackers **{ **I seriously don't know where that came from **}**_._ Trees everywhere were toppled, a few of them falling onto a few unfortunate homes. Water jetted into the air from broken hydrants.

'_Ugh, my head is going to split from the noise'. _I plugged my ears. Every single car alarm was blaring throughout the hill. The noise combined into an irritating orchestra of din, amplified even more by the shape of the hills.

After looking at the neighborhood below, I turned to look at the Vargas's, the only other house that can be seen on our street. Their sons, Lovino and Feliciano, were high school seniors and they sometimes gave me rides to school. Did I mention that they both drive Ferraris? Well they do. But looking at their driveway now, I knew those rides were now long gone. Their cars were the very definition of 'epically totaled'. Their pine tree had fallen flat and crushed both beauties. I seriously felt like I could cry.

The Vargas family had come out into their front yard. _'Wait till Lovino sees his car', _I mourned. I watched them all, but they didn't even seem to notice their totally wrecked rides. In fact, they weren't even looking at them. They were looking at the city beyond.

"Oh, my dear Lord," I heard Dad breathe. '_Did I miss something?'_ I wondered. He, too, was looking at the city. I walked up to stand behind him and followed suit. What I saw made my blood turn cold. My eyes widened as the color drained out of my face and I clutched my injured arm closer to my body. Nothing crossed my mind as horror took over my whole body.

There, on the horizon, where land meets ocean, hovering above the earth and blanketing everything below in shadow, was an airship. An _enormous,_ _fucking _airship that we now knew was the cause of the earthquake. An impossibly large and powerful laser shot from the mouth of the gargantuan beast.

And it cut through the Los Angeles metropolis like butter.

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**_End Chapter 1_**

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**A/N: **GAH FINALLY FINISHED! *runs around the house in ecstacy* this took me forever to write, mostly because my SAT is in 2 weeks and inspiration for this story abandoned me.

*1: Yes, this is me being lazy. Live with it.

*2: I actually based this off of my parents. My dad didn't change countries, but he flew across America to be with my mom when she had to live in the East Coast for two months. This was before they were married, and about a year later, they said their vows XD

~I apologize for the crappy ending

~OMG please don't shoot me! D: *hides from Pru/Hun and Aus/Hun shippers* I have read **countless **fics of both couples and have rewatched the anime thrice, but I still can't decide which couple I like better. I knew that if I shipped either one, I'd get shot, so I tried to make Hungary's relationship as ambiguous as possible *gets shot anyway* T_T

~Alfred's and Matthew's mom is an OC. No, it is not France.

~Did you find Alfred OOC? I couldn't tell. Hormonal teenage boys are so hard to get into the mindset of...

~I took free reign with all their ages. Sorry if it bothers you. I'm keeping the story integrity as close as I can to my head canon, and the ages I have here are the closest as they were in the dream [read: nightmare]. And is it just me, or doesn't older!brotherly!America just make you go "AWWWWW! XD"

~If any of you were wondering, I tried to keep a Hacienda Heights setting going for their neighborhood. I *used to* live in the lower suburbs and I've never been to Hacienda; I've only seen pictures of the view from up there, so I just used my imagination. I apologize if you are a citizen of Hacienda and find my imagination to be utterly and completely wrong.

Me: Yay! Disclaimers a la Britain! :D

Britain: What? Why the bloody hell am I doing it?

Me : Cause ya didn't get enough screen time, 's why. And you're dying in the next chapter.

Britain: WHAT?

Me: Just do the disclaimers already dammit!

Britain: Ugh, FINE. Coco does not own Hetalia or any of its characters. And as much as she likes Scooby-Doo, she doesn't own that either.

Me: Bummer =P. America, s'your turn!

America: Coco thanks you for reading and demands you leave a heroic comment!

Me: Heroic wasn't in the script.

America: =P

Me: Canada! Please finish this off! *throws script at him*

Canada: *reads from script* O-oh, umm, comment or else she'll sic me and America on you- wait, what?

Me: YUP! KAY BYE XD


	3. Chapter 3

haha sorry this took so long to update...FFN was giving me that "Server Error" message...

warnings: language, human names used (why is this a warning? someone please tell me)... yah

once again, for the clean and minced version, go to my dA (remove les espaces!): http : / chibi dreamer 258 . deviantart . com /

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**Chapter Two: Reality is Sometimes Our Greatest Nightmare**_

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_Oh, my dear Lord," I heard Dad breathe._

'Did I miss something?_'_ _I wondered. He, too, was looking at the city. I walked up to stand behind him and followed suit. What I saw made my blood turn cold._

_There, on the horizon, where land meets ocean, hovering above the earth and blanketing everything below in shadow, was an airship. An _enormous, fucking _airship that we now knew was the cause of the earthquake. An impossibly large and powerful laser shot from the mouth of the gargantuan beast._

_And it cut through the Los Angeles metropolis like butter._

_... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... __... ... ... ..._

My jaw went slack and a sick feeling formed in my stomach for the hundredth time this morning. _'Oh, my God… What the hell? There's no way that Thing is real. This can't be happening. Spaceships only exist in movies and stuff, like __Independence Day_ _or, or __War of the Worlds__! There's no fucking way that THING is there, right? Holy fucking shit…'_

**{ **My memory is kinda hazy in this part. Bear with me as I try to remember **}**

My brain absolutely refused to accept the information it just received and began to shut down from the overload. The world spun out of control, leaving me at the mercy of the lingering tremors. I began to lose balance. _'There's no way in hell that thing is real. Maybe I'm having one of those realistic dreams or something, and this is just on the nightmare end of the scale. Yeah, that's gotta be it…' _**{ **I still wish this were true **}**. The colors of the world blurred into one another as blackness started surrounding me. I felt a lot heavier too…_'Why is the ground moving so fast…?' _our walkway swam into view._ '…Oh, I'm gonna hit my head' _the vague thought floated around but was never penetrated my skull. I closed my eyes as time seemed to slow and I felt myself fall forward;_ 'If I'm asleep then maybe I'll wake up for real and this will all just be a bad dream. I'll take a shower and have breakfast with Ma-'_

"ACK!" I gasped as agonizing pain abruptly coursed up my left arm. My eyes shot open and were momentarily blinded by the world's brightness. When my vision returned a second later, I was looking straight down at pavement. For some reason, my shoulder threatened to snap, so I immediately pivoted on my heel to turn the other way. I remained still for a moment trying to make sense of what just happened.** {**This part is hazy too, but I remember that the first clear image I had was of Dad's legs. I later realized that I was about to faint when he caught my arm, twisting it backwards. Once I had turned around, we were both balancing each other- me falling on my dead weight and Dad leaning against it**}**. Still a bit brain dead, I slowly raised my head to look at him. His normally stern but gentle emerald eyes were now pools of horror and disbelief, mirroring the internal turmoil that I was trying to deny existed. Reality crashed down in full force.

Bile rose up my stomach and I quickly wrenched myself from his grasp. I threw myself at the fence for support as my breakfast came back up. Everything was a mess. _I _was a mess. Tears pricked my eyes as I continued vomiting. _'This-this is really real…' _I began to finally accept. Dad came up from behind and held me steady. He didn't say anything while massaging my back **{**… I guess even he knew he couldn't say _"Everything will be alright"_ when there was no way anything could ever be close to 'alright' anymore**}**. I continued to retch even after my stomach was emptied. _'God, this really is real. But why? What the hell…?' _

When I finished, I let myself drop down to sit on the pathway. I leaned against the opposite fence trying to catch my breath, Dad still standing.

"A-Alfred, we have to go…" Fear laced itself into his voice.

"I...I know. Just gimme a sec," I asked him tiredly.

He nodded and remained silent. Neither of us said anything after that. What the hell _could _we say? The earthquake, the ship; it was just too surreal. There was no warning, no alert of any kind. We were left to figure out ourselves just what the fuck was going on.

The quakes had died down into a faint rumble by now since the Ship had moved farther south, away from us. I don't know why, but we didn't rush to the car or the basement, or anywhere away for that matter. We weren't screaming for our damn lives like they do in the movies, even though we should be. Maybe we're suicidal, I don't know. But I could hear the Vargas's freaking out, Lovino screaming at Feliciano to "FUCKING STOP CRYING AND _LET'S GO, DAMMIT_!" I don't know where they were going or _how_ they were gonna leave, (the streets _and _their cars were demolished) but they were doing what Dad and I should be doing: _leaving_. Or at very least hiding.

'_The Ship…' _An image of that Beast flashed into my mind, sending tendrils of fear up my spine. Adrenaline began to race through my nerves again _'We have to get away too. I don't wanna stay a damn moment longer than I have to with that Thing flying overhead'_ I jumped up to get my ass moving, but not before taking one last gaze back to the city below.

**{ **Confession time: seeing that Airship wasn't what made me sick with horror. It was- no _**is**_ scary as hell, yes, but it wasn't what made me repeat _'Holy shit, no fucking way...' _like a mantra. No, it was the destruction that it left behind.

I didn't exaggerate when I said my house has an awesome view. You can practically see the entire city from where we are; LA County directly below, Orange down to the south. The skyscrapers, amusement parks, traffic, the ocean, [the smog…]; it was all laid out before us. If you never got the chance to go to Los Angeles, Reader, then that's too bad, 'cause you missed out on a whole lot of awesome. Lemme tell ya, LA was _huge_. My teacher once told us that over 17 _million_ people lived in its 34,000 square miles, city and suburbs included. There was so much to do and too much to see if you came here. SoCal was the home to Hollywood, Universal Studios, Disneyland/California Adventure, and most importantly, the Lakers. I remember that almost every night I'd climb onto our rooftop and just look at the city lights. Disneyland lit fireworks every night, too, and I'd call Mattie to come out and join me to watch them. I have so many memories of LA... This place, the Southland, Was. My. Life. I haven't known any other home than this, and I've never even tried to _imagine_ leaving this place. I'm tied to this land, you know? My friends and family, my entire _being_…everything I needed was right here** }**

Los Angeles was now replaced with but 3 things: Fire, Destruction, and Death.

The laser that shot from the airship had to be at least a mile wide. It was just a huge red pillar of… of… I don't even know the word for It. If that Ship was Death himself, then the laser was Its Scythe. Everything It touched was disintegrated into piles of rubble and ash, leaving behind a trail of scorched and burning earth. From here, it looked like a giant 2-year old took a black crayon and scribbled aimlessly all over LA. Fire was rampant everywhere, plumes of smoke rising high above the clouds. I could start to smell the ashes and smoke now, actually **{**thankfully we were downwind at the time**}**.

But the people… the innocent people that were caught beneath it…Despite the distance between the city and us, we could still hear their screams… screams of hundreds of people as they were burned alive.

'_So this is how ants must feel...'_A small, rueful smile grew on my lips.

**{**Have you ever taken a magnifying glass and used it to focus the sun's rays to burn ants? I have. When I was younger, it was… fun… to watch them run for their lives, but then curl up as they died. It was even cooler when, if it was a hot day and I got just the right angle, a little trail of smoke would rise from the ant when it burned. I always thought it was funny to see how helpless and tiny they were; how much they were at my mercy; how much I felt like _God_ compared to them… But… it isn't funny anymore. Not when it happened to us, to the people in the city… What I hate the most is that just as peaceful and condescending as I was to those ants, that Ship hovered silently above it all, just as mocking and seemingly just as humored at watching our destruction**}**

'_LA…the people…we're safe, but they…laser…Dad and Mattie, M-'_

"DAD!"

He jumped in surprise, but I didn't let him respond-

"The city- this m-m-morning- Matt-…I d-didn't- he said-" A lump stuck in my throat and cut me off. Tears started rushing down my face. My legs gave way and I fell to the ground in a heap once more. I couldn't… The pain…

Everything started hurting, especially my chest.

'_Oh God, please no…'_

"Alfred? What happened?" He put his hand on my shoulder again.

'_NO! This can't- I didn't say- How could- but she-!' _

I was sobbing so hard now it hurt, my body shaking from the force of it all. My throat was burning, and a feeling of anguish was crushing my soul. Everything inside me was aching.

"Alfred! _Alfred!_ Talk to me! What is it?" Dad shook me a bit, trying to snap me back to attention.

The lump in my throat had grown so large it was choking me. My heart hurt so bad…

_'Breathe, Al, breath' _I took a deep breath of air and held it in. I repeated a few more times and managed to calm down a little. I needed to tell Dad; he had to know. Before I broke down again, I told him:

"M-Mom is in the city-!" _'With Eliza...'_

Feeling like I just got hit by a truck, I started sobbing all over again.

_'And I didn't get to see her before she left this morning' _

We sat a bi-

I bega-

..

..

..

..

..

**{**Fuck this, I c-can't write right now. I-I need a break**}**

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_End Chapter Two_

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**A/N: **UWAHHH LOVE TO YOU ALL! Once again, thanks to everyone who faved and subscribed! X3 And even if you didn't, love to you too, Reader, JUST for reading this! XD

~Ok, I has shout-outs to 2 viewers:

**Lady Suji**: You has been a great encouragment to me this entire week! [**edit: **technically last week, seeing how this was late...] I'm actually planning out my next fic right now, but it won't be out for awhile hehe ^^; *turns to audience* PEOPLES! CHECK OUT HER STORIES! AND THEN SPAM HER, TELLING HER I SENT YOU! BWAHAHAHAHAHA (no j/k, but seriously check her out and give her a review!)

**Anily AKW-DPP**: for some reason, I couldn't PM you and therefore couldn't send a thank-you. Sooooooo I'll do it here! *speaks with a Filipina accent* Tan kyuu berry mach! XD (lol if you don't know what that says, it's "Thank you very much")

~ Alfred's last thought, the one in _italics_... loosely based (yes, I base parts of my stories off my RL) off someone I know. I won't delve into it for personal reasons, but peoples (prepare yourself for a serious moment), never and I mean, **NEVER **say "I hate you" or anything along those lines to the people you love and hold dear. Life is too short and too precious to waste your time saying that to to them. You never know when those 3 words could be the last thing you'll ever get to say to them before you have to say "Goodbye" forever. Don't let yourself live with that regret.

...

*end emo moment* OK MOVING ON NOW

~ CALIFORNIA PRIDE HELLZ YEAH! XD

~ The genre "Horror" might be applied later on in this fic. Idk when it will start to apply (most likely later down the road), but I wanted to warn you all before you regret reading this and then flame me about it later :/ . As far as I can tell, it will only be intermittent, but nothings for sure yet.

~ Oh yeah, btw whats "AU"? What's it stand for? *is new to FFN*

Me: *slams head on desk* AWW DAMMIT!

America: ...? everything ok Coco?

Me: *sobbing* I didn't kill Britain off like I said I would...

Britain: What the hell? You're upset because I DIDN'T die?

Me: A bit...

Britain: Fuck you

Me: I'm underage, unfortunately :P. Canada, you wanna do disclaimers again? *throws script again at him anyways*

Canada: :( *sigh* Coco doesn't own Hetalia or its characters, nor does she own the movies mentioned above. Everything belongs to their respectful owners

Me: Damn, that sucks... Meh, whatever. *pushes Canada out a window* ALSO, PEOPLES PRAY FOR JAPAN! NIHON-KUN NEEDS OUR SUPPORT!

Canada: *hanging from window* M-Maple... :S

America: *munching burger* Aoh ore oo reoo eheeongh! (Don't forget to review, everyone!)


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Sorry it took me a while to update. My comp literally died on me so I had to restart this whole thing from scratch :P I'm unable to open FFN in it's nomal, non-mobile layout on my laptop, so I couldn't individually respond to all of your reviews and thank everyone who faved/subscribed. So here it is:

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE THAT FAVED AND SUBSCRIBED! OMG I LOVE YOU ALL! Now for those who reviewed:

**AnimeLuvv**: Haha, thanks, and I also hope that the story gets better. Lol you're dream is basically the same as the one I based this story off of… Yeah, I know it's kinda like Battle: LA, but I assure you, I had the dream/inspiration for this story waaaay before the movie came out. And I didn't mean to make you feel bad! I just don't want people to go through what my friend did. I'm sorry! DX And about Britain… What's sad is that when I had the dream, it was actually my Dad in his place. Ima feel so bad for what ima do to him later on... (hehe that sounded wrong didn't it ;D) Anywho, lol I know right? When I was writing, I knew a lot of people were gonna assume France was the wife XD **Akai Hoshi Neko**:Thanks for the info! I've been wondering that for a long time, haha. And OMYGOSH YOU KNOW THAT'S A BAD THING RIGHT? D: Not to criticize your taste in fics, but that's just SOO SAD!... but in a funny way xD. Idk how, but yeah **nupinoop296**: YUP! CALI PRIDE FTW! Rofl, did you find my descrip of LA passable? It's been two years since I moved from there, so idk if it's as accurate as I'd like it to be hehe… interesting PenName btw **m0rK3y-cHaN**: Thank you! But sweet? And cute? Oh dear... I'm getting the urge re-edit all the chapters now... lol j/k. So you're a Pru/Hun shipper? Personally I'm leaning more and more to Aus/Hun ^.^; But I can go both ways. *le gaspeth* I'm a bi-shipper! (lol wtf?) **Lady Suji**: Don't worry, Britain will die. ***spoiler alert* **After this chapter, you can safely just assume that he died. He won't reappear in the story until like the 2nd to last chapter where it's explicitly stated he dies ***end spoiler alert* **I love shopping and writing too! Not so much Assassin's Creed, but oh well! Nah, I think you could've used "super" a bit more lol. And no worries, don't feel pressured to do so! I'm the one who feels like I owe you, lol XD **LimeGreenPanda**: Haha I'm glad the story puts you on edge. And all good stories are unfinished for a reason ** ;)

_- _UGH WHY DO ALL OF YOU HAVE SUCH INTERESTING PEN/USERNAMES. I FEEL SO LAME NOW D:

warnings: language, less angst than I'd like, and a VERY long chapter (for me at least)

the link to the clean version is on my profile

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_**Chapter Three: Diary of Alfred Jones (Part 1) **_

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**{ **Sorry for leaving last time… No, actually nevermind, I'm not. But I'm back, so I'll continue where I left off **}**

_'All the people in the city..and Mom might be one of them. She's down there… She might be d-'_ I choke down more sobs; I can't finish that thought. _'Oh God, please don't let anything have happened to her. Maybe she's somehow safe… Dammit, why'd she have to go to LA today? __She'd be safe here if she wasn't… It's not fair! Mom can't-! We need her here with us! _I _need her! What if I never see her again...' _

I had shut myself off from the world when I started crying, so I couldn't tell what Dad was doing. All I know is that he became silent and drew back his hand from my shoulder after I had told him about Mom. I figured maybe he was crying too. Whatever he was doing, I didn't really care. Right now, I just wanted to cry. Cry because I was worried sick for my mom. Cry because even if I can _hope_ she's alive, there was no way of _knowing_. Cry because… because I just needed to **{** Yes, I _am_ man enough to admit that I cried, thank you very much** }**.

The tears eventually subsided into a small trickle, but I didn't feel like getting up. My head felt thick and heavy and dammit all, I just wanted to curl up and sleep and forget everything that was going on.

_'This wasn't supposed to happen. I'm supposed to meet Kiku at the mall, Mattie was going over to Lorenzo's house, Dad wanted to finish his book and Mom… Mom was supposed to have an awesome time out with Eliza. Today was supposed to be a normal Satu-'_

_**"Alright, already the show goes on. All night, till the morning we dream so long..."**_

It had been deafeningly quiet until my phone scared the shit outta me and back to reality **{**Oh hey, that rhymes!**}**. I blinked, trying to clear the fog from my mind.

I slowly pulled my phone out. _**"...when you come up the show goes on!"**_ _'I don't wanna talk to anyone, right now' _I frowned, but flipped it open anyway.

I took a breath to steady myself, then answered, "Hello?"

"Al? W-Where a-a-are you-u and D-Dad?" a small voice asked on the other end. _'Shit, I forgot about Mattie…'_

"Mattie, are you ok? Are you hurt? Did you stay under the table?" I ignored his question in exchange for my own.

"N-No, I'm fine. Yes, I'm under the table. But where are you and Dad?"

"We're still in the front. We sorta… lost track of time." '_He's probably had a panic attack by now. How long've we been gone anyway?'_

I continued, "You can come out now; it looks like the quake's ended already. We're going back inside right now." I got up from sitting and wiped the tears from my eyes. I couldn't let him find out I cried. That'd be totally unawesome as his older bro.

"Ok, I-I will" I was about to hang up when a sudden thought occurred:

"Wait, Matt, don't, uhh, don't go in front of any windows, ok?" _'He'd for sure be traumatized if he saw what happened- _is _happening.'_

"Huh? Wh-"

"Just listen ok? I'll be inside in a sec, so just wait." I rushed and hung up.

_'How the hell am I gonna tell him what's goin' on? He's already freaked as it is...' _I sighed to myself, _'Well, what he doesn't know won't hurt him, right? Maybe Dad will tell him… Speaking of which, where'd he go?'_

I turned to where I thought he'd been last and- yup, sure enough, he was still sitting in the same place where he'd sat across from me. But Dad was so... pale_, _so _hollow_. He kinda looked like a ghost… albeit a _sick _ghost. It was hard to tell whether or not he was breathing. His eyes were glassed over and unfocused; kinda like when he has an _extreme_ hangover.

_'Should I try to get his attention? He looks like he could faint... or snap, like last time' _I grimaced at the thought.

**{ **Like I said, he looked hungover. Reader, **never **take advantage of a man when he's hungover. Especially if that man happens to be my Dad. **It will **_**not**_** end well**. For some unexplained reason, Gilbert thought that it'd be an "awesome" idea to draw on Dad's face with a sharpie while he was in that state. Let's just say that Gilbert learned the hard way how... err, _skilled _Dad is in sword-fighting. Dad's weapon of choice: an 18th century sword of the British Royal Navy [which should've been in its case, seeing how it was an antique _and _a family heirloom]. It took 3 calls from the neighbors, an intervention from _Francis Bonnefoy _of all people, and 10 promised boxes of tea before Dad calmed down enough to let Gilbert escape [to the hospital]. Kiku videotaped the whole thing and WOOT! 500,000 views on Youtube in 3 days! Sorry, I digress. Ok, where was I?... **}**

I decided to risk it; we no longer had the luxury of time on our side and I couldn't just leave him there.

"Dad?" I poke/nudged him on the arm.

He was slow to respond, with a blank expression to match. _'What the heck is wrong wi- Oh.' _I'd told him about Mom. Of course he'd be shocked **{ **Understatement of the Year Award! **}**.

"Hey, c'mon get up." I paused but he didn't respond. "Mattie is still inside and we have to go. Or hide." I paused again. Still no response. "We don't know if those Things will come back. The Vargas' have already left. We should be going to." I grabbed his arm while speaking and was helping him up.

Dad rose slowly, leaning against me for support. He was still for a second, before, slowly and very brokenly, he whispered, "... Lorraine..." The tears fell.

_'He's thinking of Mom.'_ If my heart had a crack, it just got bigger. I bit my lip, shutting my eyes to fight the tears. _'I can't cry anymore. Not now. I have to be strong.' _

I inhaled. "I know. But we can't do anything right now. We have to take care of ourselves first. And Mattie's still inside waiting. M-Mom would want us to take care of him first. To take care of **us **first" Saying 'Mom' out loud was harder than I expected; a new stream of tears threatened the corners of my eyes.

My small speech seemed to take effect as it slowly sunk in. Dad was able to steady himself and stood on his own. He wiped his eyes, blowing his nose into the handkerchief he had with him.

"You're right. Lorraine can take care of herself. We have to think about our safety too." He wiped a few more stray tears and composed himself. With one last breath, he walked into the house, me trailing after him.

Inside, the house was completely trashed. All the décor on the walls had been thrown haphazardly to the ground, and everything on the ground was toppled on its side. Dad and I were forced to pick our way through the foyer to get to the hall. Mattie was already at the other end when we finally got to the hall entrance. He was looking around undecidedly where to walk through the mess that blocked his way. What had been Mom's Swarovski collection had fallen and shattered into a million pieces everywhere. My arm was a testament to the painful obstacle course the hall had become.

"Matthew, are you alright?" Dad called, propping a Chinese vase that had miraculously survived to an upright position. He had been replacing whatever furniture he could.

"Umm, yeah." Mattie called back. He began to try and make his way through the glass death trap.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait right there! You'll cut your foot, smart one!" I pushed past Dad and hurried over to my brother. I was wearing my tennis at the time, so I only had to stay clear of the bigger glass shards.

"Geez! And your barefoot too!" I exclaimed as I picked him up and carried him to a safer place to stand.

"Sorry..." he whispered.

"Mhmm. Just be more careful next time."

Dad came up behind us, "Were you alright beneath the table?"

I looked at Mattie and could see in his eyes that he'd noticed we'd been crying. Thankfully he didn't say anything, opting just to say, "Yes. You guys were gone a long time." Pause. "What happened?" I mentally facepalmed myself. _'I spoke to soon.'_

Dad and I exchanged a glance before he said, "Nothing you have to worry about_."_

Matthew was either really smart or really innocent when he didn't say anything more.

Turning to me, Dad said, "Take Matthew and check out the damage upstairs. I'll be there shortly. And clean up your arm, too." He motioned to said arm then headed to the kitchen, ignoring the glass and disappearing from view.

Mattie's eyes became the size of saucers when he noticed my arm for the first time. He looked at me with a huge question mark on his face, but I just waved it off. He shrugged and we started for the stairs.

A short silence passed over us before Mattie broke it by asking, "Al, what happened outside?"

_'You really are a persistent kid, y'know that?' _I was silent for a few moments trying to come up with an anwer that wouldn't scare him shitless as I made my way around a toppled wooden chest.

"Al?" Mattie asked when I didn't reply._ 'Damn, he's still waiting for an answer.' _

I gave up. "…Something terrible." I muttered. It was an easy white lie. I mean, hell _yeah _something terrible happened. Mattie just didn't need to know what the Thing was that's terrible. Not yet, at least.

I could feel his eyes on my back as we walked upstairs. The damn kid can always tell if I'm lying, but he didn't question me anymore. He must've figured I didn't wanna talk about it. He's smart like that.

Mattie immediately went to his own room to see how bad the damage was. I, on the other hand, had to tend to my arm and went into our bathroom. I do not kid you when I say our bathroom is quite literally a mini-clinic. Me getting injured occurs almost as often as Mattie gets sick. Mom and Dad, not wanting to pay anymore monthly doctor's fees for the both of us, stocked our bathroom with almost every home medical supply available to the general public and made me learn how to treat my own injuries. So it kinda goes without saying that I was used to this kind of thing.

My first order of business was cleaning my arm. I stripped my sweater off and rinsed the cut. It had stopped bleeding by now so I just washed it in warm water and soap. The glass hadn't cut me deep but it ran up the entire length of my forearm in one ugly scrape. With the adrenaline rush long gone, my arm was feeling more than a bit sore and I had to pat it dry. I got out a roll of bandages and wrapped it neatly. In three minutes, I was done and finished and going to my own room.

I opened my "DO NOT ENTER" tape-plastered door to the room I had left only about an hour ago. I'll be honest- I've been avoiding cleaning my room for about a month (hence the "Disaster Zone" nickname from Mom). Giant airships shooting huge lasers and causing massive earthquakes does not help. In fact, it only makes it worse. My metal warehouse shelving had fallen forward, everything it had been holding either crushed beneath it or in some other random place in my room. My computer and monitor were miraculously still standing. The bureau had fallen against my desk though, so I pushed it up against the wall where it belonged. Everything else seemed the same... **{ **ok FINE I'll admit, other than my shelf and bureau, my room was still about as messy as it was _before_ the quake. Happy? **}**. I righted the shelving next and began replacing the stuff that had fallen from it.

After about five minutes, Dad called us from the stairway. I stopped my cleaning and went back out to the stairs.

Mattie was already there and Dad had just reached the landing, carrying two small luggages and three trash bags with him. I noticed dark circles beneath his eyes. "Both of you, gather your important things; clothes, pillows, toothbrush, and whatever else you want to bring."

"Where are we going?" I was the first to ask.

"_You_ two will be going to the basement. I... I'm going to the city."

"..."

"..."

"You're _**WHAT**_? Are you crazy?" I practically exploded. Mattie looked at us in fear and confusion. He didn't understand how INSANE Dad's idea was.

"Alfred, please listen." He sounded tired, but I didn't care.

"No, Dad, _you _listen. How the hell can you just leave us here. 'Stay in the basement'; what the fuck is that supposed to mean? And you saw It, there's no way you can go there! Mom's already down there! What if something happens to you? We have to stick together! You ca-"

"Alfred! Listen! I'm going to the city to search for your mother, you understand? I would take you with me, but I can't leave your brother here by himself, and I sure as bloody hell can't bring him to the city. That's why I need you to stay with him in the basement. It's the safest place for you both. Do you understand me?" All traces of weariness were gone and his eyes and tone regained their usually stern demeanor.

He and I were at a stand-off. I willed my glare to shoot daggers at him. _'Is he stupid? We don't know if that Thing will attack again and he wants to go to Ground Zero? Has he fucking lost it!' _

The seconds ticked by, and somehow, in a rare moment of clarity, I could see that the man at the receiving end of my glare wasn't entirely stern. In fact, he even appeared fatigued... burdened, even. _'This is something he_ has_ to do,'_ I guiltily realized. I hate it, but I understand how he feels. Dad needed to be Mom's hero, and I had to be Mattie's. And there's no way in hell I can deny him that.

_'Today is not a good day for me. I keep losing arguments dammit'_

"Fine. But you better find her." I grabbed one luggage and a trash bag from his hands.

Dad blinked in surprised but then sniffed, "It's not like I need _your _approval..." and handed the remaining luggage and a trash bag to Mattie. He'd been standing off to the side the whole time.

I snorted at his previous comment and began to return to my room. **{** Dad and I could get over our fights pretty quick. It was something that I'm extremely grateful for... Damn, when did I become so honest with You? **}**

"How is it?" He asked before I could get away.

"What?" I turned around.

"The arm," he lifted his own.

"Oh, yeah it's fine," I looked at my bandaged arm. "It was just a scratch but pretty big."

Dad nodded and motioned for Mattie to go to his room. I took this as the end of our conversation and went to my room as well.

I surveyed my cluttered room for any clean clothes and underwear I could find. _'Mom did laundry yesterday, so I should have some good shirts...' _I set the luggage up on my bed and began my treasure hunt. After a few minutes, I was able to find enough clothing and underwear to last me a week. My remaining clean socks and my Air Jordans were also packed for good measure. My cell charger, PSP and DS (for Mattie) and their chargers plus extra games were also thrown in. After a bit of thought, I decided to bring my camera and the SD card I stored all my photos in. _'Who knows, I might need them sometime,'_ I reasoned.

During my hunt, I found the grey stuffed alien Mom had gotten me when I was a kid. It was her gift for my 5th birthday and I had named it Tony (I'm not sure why). Tony is one of my favorite things ever, and with Mom not here now, like hell I'm gonna leave him behind. I quickly hugged it before carefully placing it in the trash bag along with my blankets and pillows.

I dragged the now full luggage and bag into the hallway. I could hear Dad in Mattie's room helping him pack his stuff.

"Mattie, Ima get your toothbrush and medicine!" I yelled in their direction.

A few seconds later a muffled "Ok" came back in reply.

I found an old toiletry bag and quickly packed both our toothbrushes, toothpastes, my deodorant, Mattie's cough syrup for when he needs it, a few exra rolls of bandages, and some more medicine and whatnot.

By the time I finished, Mattie was in front of the stairs with his things. He clutched his Kuma teddy (Mom's gift for his birthday last year) to his chest in one arm and held his trash bag in the other.

"Where's Dad?" I asked while I hauled my stuff to where Mattie was.

"Packing some clothes." A moment of silence.

"Why are we going into the basement?" he finally asked.

_'Why are kids always so nosy?'_ I retorted in my head. But I couldn't say that to him. I mean, it's not like I can blame the kid. Ever since returning from the yard, Mattie was the only one who was in the dark about our true situation.

"Because it's safer there."

"From the earthquake?"

"From the earthquake." _'And from the killer alien airship that wiped out LA and is the actual cause of said earthquake'_

Dad came out of the master bedroom right then carrying his own trash bag.

"Are both of you set?"

"Yeah..."

"Mmhmm."

"Alright let's get you both to the basement then." He grabbed Mattie's luggage and started down the stairs.

"It's too dangerous to go through the kitchen; too many broken dishes and such. We'll go out the front and around the house."

'_What the-? Is he trying to sound optimistic?' _I shook my head. _'Gah, whatever.'_

We made our way to the front yard. He was right; unlike the Vargas', we didn't have extravagant landscaping, so our yard was pretty much ok. The stone birdbath was demolished, though, and a stream of water shot up from the rubble. The sky was a dark grey and the air unusually hot, undoubtedly from the fires. We were still downwind so there wasn't any smoke or ashes around us. But more importantly, there was no clue for Mattie to figure out what was going on.

I guided Mattie the whole time so he wouldn't have a view of the city or the Airship. It was still shooting the laser, and by the looks of it, It was now over Orange County. I shivered (hopefully Mattie didn't notice) and continued to walk through the gate to the backyard.

We crossed the lawn to the far side of the yard, where the basement entrance was hidden by a small patch of fake grass. The fake grass is unnoticeable by a cover of live vines resting atop it. Dad had designed the camouflage so that the cover of grass and vines rested on a wooden board that you can pull out of the way. Once we'd removed the cover, I opened the door to reveal the basement's dark interior.

It isn't a basement per se. It's just easier to call it that. A more accurate term would be a safe house. Dad, never having lived in the west coast before marrying Mom, had heard all the stories of Cali's earthquakes. Upon moving here, he immediately had an underground safe house built. The room is a bit cramped, but that's because the safe house has space for 2 futons, a 1.5 bathroom, and a pantry stocked with canned goods and bottled water. Electricty comes from a manual generator Dad had hooked up. There wasn't a TV or radio, which was why I had brought my own consoles. Fresh air came from a ventilation shaft hidden behind thick wall vines also in our yard. The entrance could be locked from the inside, like a normal front door. We could live here almost indefinitely, and it was probably even safer than our actual house.

I entered the safe house first and and once I was on the ground, Dad lowered our luggages. Mattie came down next and Dad last, leaving his own things up above. I put our stuff to one side while Mattie settled into the the lone recliner in the corner. Dad busied himself checking the running water and manual generator before he was satisfied with the safe house's condition. I didn't really see a reason to check, though; he always does routine checks, replacing expired canned foods and cleaning the vent every month. But whatever. It's my dad we're talking about.

"Well, everything seems in perfect condition. You boys should be safe in here." Dad spoke with an air of finality around him.

"Daddy, you don't really have to go do you?" Mattie had moved from his seat to pull out his signature killer puppy dog eyes on Dad. **{** It takes serious training plus time and experience to be immune to that look. It's an art that even _I_ have yet to master **}**

"Unfortunately, yes, I do, Matthew." Dad wisely avoided looking Mattie directly in the eye. He heaved out a sigh and lowered himself to Matt's level to bring them face-to-face.

"Have I ever lied to you?" Mattie shook his head no, and continued to look at Dad with his wide, violet eyes.

"Well, Matthew, the truth is that your mother might be in danger and I have to go help her. Do you understand?" Mattie's eyes widened more in fear and he squeezed Kuma closer to his chest.

Dad continued, "I need you to be a big boy and be strong for your mother when she and I return. Can you be strong? For us both?" He looked at Mattie with imploring eyes, hoping to find approval and understanding from his son. Tears formed in Mattie's eyes.

With lightning speed, Mattie threw Kuma to the side and gave Dad a bear hug of his own to the neck. Dad gasped from the sudden impact but was overshadowed by the hiccuping sobs coming from Matttie.

"J-Just make *hic* sure y-you sta- *hic* stay sa-s-safe, ok Daddy? And m-make *hic* sure Mo-Mommy's ok *hic* too." he cried into Dad's chest. _'Oh, Mattie...'_

"Shh...Don't cry, Matthew. She'll be fine, don't worry." Dad rubbed Mattie's back soothingly, closing his eyes at the sound of his son's crying. A tear escaped his eye and rolled down his cheek somberly. The two of them rocked back and forth as Dad comforted Mattie, reassuring him that he wouldn't leave for long and would everything would be fine.

Mattie eventually stopped sobbing and pulled away from Dad's grasp.

Dad wiped the tears from Mattie's face and asked,"So can I count on you, Matthew?"

Tears still fell from his eyes, but Mattie nodded and wiped his face on his own with his sleeve. Dad ruffled his hair as he hoisted himself up and turned his attention to me. Something twinged in my chest. I _really_ didn't want him to go. I mean, there's a good chance we'll never see him again. That was something I didn't want to deal with.

Nevertheless, I grinned and gave Dad a thumbs up. "Well, we're all set! You gotta hurry and save Mom! Don't waste your chance to be the hero!" **{** So freakin' cheesy... OH NO I'M TURNING INTO A SOFTIE LIKE DAD **}**

Weirdly, Dad looked like that was the greatest thing I had ever told him. It kinda creeped me out. _'I didn't say anything weird, did I?'_

But he smiled, "I will, Alfred. Thank you."

He stepped forward to hug me, arms outstretched. I hesitated at first but thought, _'What the hell? Who knows when I'll see him again?' _and returned the hug. Dad is a lot stronger than you'd give him credit for. His arms brought me into a tight embrace, the kind where you _know _the other person is leaving, maybe for good.

He released me after a bit but kept his hands on my shoulders, mine dropping down to my sides. He held me at arm's length and had that parent's let-me-look-at-you-one-last-time expression on his face.

"I'm sorry I have to leave like this. I promise to come back as soon as I can. _With_ your mother."

I swallowed, "I'll hold you to it." _'Dammit don't you _dare _cry Alfred, I swear-'_

"I, umm, I have something for you both." Now Dad looked hesitant as he turned away and went up the ladder. He climbed just high enough to reach his bag and started to dig around inside it. When he found what he was looking for, he quickly pulled them out, revealing two rectangular packages.

Descending into the room once more, he said, "One is for you and Matthew. In case something happens to me and I can't bring back your mother-"

"Don't say that." I warned. I'm not superstitious or anything, but I know enough to know that it's dangerous to say those kind of things.

"In case something _does_ happen," Dad continued, "there's something for the both of you. From your mother and I."

He seemed slightly anxious as he handed them to me. I looked the packages over; they were small, but thick and heavy, Matt's and my name type written on our respective one's. I nodded at Dad and tucked them under my arm

**{** You know that point in time where you've already said goodbye to someone and now all that was left was that last single moment before the person in question walked out the door (figuratively or literally)? We were there. We had said our goodbyes to Dad. Now all that was left was for him to climb that metal ladder again and return to the world above, all the while leaving Matt and me down below **}**

After handing me the packages, Dad paused as if deciding if there was anything else he needed to do. I speak for all of us when I say we all felt some form of anxiety at this time. He took one last look around the room to make sure it really _was_ ok to leave us here. Hugging us once more, he went up the ladder for the last time. He hoisted himself up onto the ground and gazed down at us, us returning the gesture. He threw down a set of keys at me.

"Don't forget to lock the door."

"Uh-huh."

"Make sure you both eat right."

"Sure thing."

"Don't come out of here unless absolutely necessary."

"I _know_, Dad"

"If someone happens to find the entrance, don't open the door for them."

"_Dad!_"

"...I-I love you both."

"I love you too, Dad!"

"Yeah, pops, same here."

Dad's eyes glistened as he smiled and lowered the door on us, permanently sealing us away from the world and away from him.

Silence followed. Gravity settled in when I felt tears fall down my face.

_'We won't see him for a long time now, will we?_

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_**End Chapter 3**_

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A/N:

~ OHMEHGAWSHNESS 11 fucking pages *dies from exhaustion* Sorry for the crappy chapter. I'm not very happy with it… It was a pain in the ass to write on the laptop and I got tired at the end so I know it's not the best. I promise a better next chapter!

~ Oh noes! Orange County is being barbequed! I used to live in Orange, so yeah, hehe ;)

~ The scene b/w Mattie and Arthur, the one with all the dialogue and Mattie crying, is hard to understand by just reading this. The bkg is that Arthur talked w/ Mattie about him having to leave and everything while they were packing Mattie's stuff and Mattie was trying to deal with the news.

~ Alfred's notes/thoughts are more sarcastic in here, no?

~ I would seriously love to have a safe house like Alfred and Mattie. That. Would. Be. Tight.

***IMPORTANT FOR ALL READERS. PLEASE BE SURE TO READ THE FOLLOWING***

I originally planned to kill everyone off for this story, Al and Matt being the only survivors. But that makes me feel like the most terrible person alive and my conscience won't shut up about it. Therefore, I am considering to keep at least one other character alive. Only problem is that I'm just not sure who. This is where you Readers and your precious reviews come in. **Leave a review with who **_**YOU**_** want to survive.**

Conditions:

- Canon characters only

- No more than two entries/suggestions are allowed per user.

- Choices NOT on the table are Britain and Lorraine (the mom). They will definitely die.

- The character(s) can be someone I didn't even mention in the story (i.e. HRE, Switzerland, Russia, Spain, etc.). Already aforementioned characters include Hungary, Austria, Prussia, the Italies and Roman Empire, France, Japan, China and Cuba

I'll tally up the results once I start the chapter of their entrance (hopefully next). If there's a close tie b/w two characters, I will consider keeping them both alive. Japan is my top choice at the moment, but I'll leave it all up to the readers, so please help me decide and REVIEW! :D

Disclaimer: last time I checked, I don't own Hetalia


	5. Chapter 5

holy hell an update /gasp

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_**Diary of Alfred Jones: Part 2 (Day 1)**_

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_Dad's eyes glistened as he smiled and lowered the door on us, permanently sealing us away from the world and away from him._

_Silence followed. Gravity settled in when I felt tears fall down my face._

'We won't see him for a long time now, will we?'

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

**{ 11:30 am}**

"Al?"

I looked down at my brother. What light made it in to the room was enough to allow us to see each others' faces. I knew he knew I was crying. Part of me hated that I let myself cry in front of him, but I just couldn't hold it in any longer.

I was so worried for Mom and Dad.

Fuck everything else; Fuck the space ship. Fuck L.A. Fuck everything. I just wanted my mom home and with us and here and not down there getting a massage or whatever and that fucking thing there and I just wanted Dad here and not outside searching for her I wouldn't even mind him yelling at me because he'd be safe here and not throwing himself into danger and fuck it all I don't want them to get hurt and-

I didn't even see Mattie move toward me, but next thing he was hugging me.

"Don't worry, Daddy said he'd come back. We have to be strong. So don't cry anymore. Everything is gonna be ok. You'll see." His voice was muffled into my jacket as he spoke.

A few more tears made their way down my cheeks as I held Mattie tight. "Thanks bro." I sniffled and returned his squeeze.

I wiped my eyes on my sleeve. This was so embarrassing. Heroes don't cry in front of their younger bros. Only one way to fix that.

I grabbed Mattie into a headlock and NOOGIED HIM.

"Hahahahahaha! Gotcha!" I laughed.

"Ah-! Hey!" he began trying to punch me and I let him go. He's so funny when he's angry I couldn't help but tickle him. He just got angrier and fought harder **{ **Did I mention he can kick butt at sports? Because there's a reason he was considered junior MVP of his team **}**. His face was torn between laughter to pure rage. I was at the advantage**{ **_obviously _**}**, but I let him land a few punches 'cause I know he hates it when I pick on him **{ **:) **}**. It ended with both of us at opposite ends of the room catching our breath.

"Tired already?" I laughed.

"You're a stupid head." He threw the recliner pillow at me and stuck out his tongue. I hit it down and stuck out my tongue back.

"Nah, just taller. And cooler."

"Bully." Mattie pouted.

"Aww. Don't be sad. One day you can be as strong as me." I headed towards the pantry beside him and ruffled his hair. "You thirsty?" I asked as I grabbed some bottled water.

"No."

"Ya sure?"

"No."

I shrugged, "Okay, whatever." I closed the pantry when Mattie grabbed my water, ran and grabbed Kuma, then stole the recliner I was gonna sit on, all in less than three seconds.

"You little shit." I fake glared at him.

Mattie just smiled innocently while drinking my water.

Bastard.

I shook my head and grabbed another bottle, leaning against the wall as I wondered what we were gonna do for God-knows-how-long. If giant, laser-beam, spaceship monster things don't kill us first, boredom would. Moving into the safe house means we couldn't do shit. Mom had made a point of stocking board games, but… _nahhhhhh_. I had my phone and the internet, but Mattie on the other hand…

"Hey," I got Mattie's attention again. "You wanna play my DS? Or I have your PSP."

"Mmm… DS!" He grinned. Just like that, all was forgiven. I threw him the DS and some games I had brought. It didn't take long for Mattie to get absorbed in whatever game he chose.

'_Now what about me…'_ I wasn't in the mood for video games. The thought suddenly struck me, _'I wonder where's Kiku?' _

I whipped out my phone to call the 2nd coolest dude on the planet: Kiku Honda.

"_**riiiiiinngg….riiiiiiiinnggg….. riiiinnggg…." **__'Dammit, pick up, Kiku!' __**"riiinnnggg…..rrrriiiingg….riii-*click* The number you ha-" **_I ended the call_._

'_Straight to voicemail.' _I grimaced. I redialed twice but didn't leave a message; Kiku would know to call back.

That is, if he can call back.

I quickly shook the thought outta my head _'Nope! Can't think like that! It's not heroic at all! He'll be fine; just see.'_

But there are other people I should call. Kiku, as awesome as he is, isn't the only bro on this planet.

Next up was Nigel. I've only known him for about a year when his family moved here from down under **{ ***snicker* **}**, but we're pretty tight. Not as much as Kiku, but still.

Same result: voicemail.

I pushed back the sick feeling that appeared in my stomach and went down my entire contacts list.

None of them answered.

Not even Grandpappers. He's in Florida. Did Florida get hit too?

The sick feeling was growing.

"Al, what are you doing?"

I looked back up at Mattie on the recliner. He had stopped playing and was looking at me 's when I realized I was banging my phone against my head repeatedly._ 'Oh.' _I gave my little bro a thumbs up and laughed, "Yeah! S'all good!"

He raised an eyebrow. _'God, Mattie must think I'm strange- Oh, wait, he already knows that. Nevermind.'_

"Okay then… Who're you calling?"

"No one."

He stared at me but nodded and returned to his game. I sighed inwardly.

'_I hate this. I hate being stuck in here. I can't do a damn thing about anything while everyone is in danger. My friends and family are out there, for Christ's sake! How can I help them if I can't be out there saving them? Who knows what's going on, maybe they're trapped or running away. What if they don't have a chance? What if we don't have a chance? I have to protect Mattie; I promised Dad. But what if I can't even do that? What if something happens… What if Mattie dies because I can't protect him?'_

"Are we gonna die?"

I flinched and turned to Matt.

"What?" my voice was hoarse.

"What if we die?" He asked again, looking down at me with blank eyes. "What if the aliens find us and we die?"

"No. We're not gonna die." I forced the words out. "No one is. We'll be safe here. There's a reason this is a safe house."

"Well… what if… What if Mom dies? Dad?" His voice got softer with each word as I sat up and walked towards him.

"Don't you dare say that. Don't even think that. They might be outside, out _there_, but they are **not** gonna die. They can't. They won't. Dad promised to bring back Mom and he's gonna do just that. They'll be just fine. They'll live. So don't say that they, or anyone, is gonna die."

Mattie now looked up at me with fear in his eyes.

"They'll be just fine." I repeated, more to myself than to him. "Everyone will be just fine."

* * *

/laughs and hides

I've been gone for so long [two fuckin' years man] that I can't even apologize or make an excuse for myself. Bless anyone who is still subscribed to this story jesus you all deserve an award and cake.

gomen

But I am done with high school, graduation is in two days, sO FUCK YEAH HERE HAVE A SHORT ASS CHAPTER TO CELEBRATE. This chapter and prolly the next are pretty short and slow, soooooo;;;;;;

and uh I still haven't decided who lives or dies yet because fuck iono man

- Amie out


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